Hillsboro advances; wins district quarterfinal against Warren

HILLSBORO — The No. 4 seeded Hillsboro Lady Indians are moving on in the Division IV SE District Tournament by gaining a quarterfinal win against the No. 5 seeded Vincent Warren Lady Warriors by a 56-44 score at Hillsboro High School. 

The Thursday night win gives Hillsboro  — the co-champion of the Frontier Athletic Conference — a tournament win for a second consecutive season, plus the victory improves their overall record to 15-8 on the season. Last season, the Lady Indians also defeated Warren in the quarterfinals by a 59-55 score.  

Hillsboro’s victory put them in the district semifinals against No. 1 seeded Circleville on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 6:15 p.m. at Logan High School. Circleville (19-4) defeated No. 8 Gallia Academy, 49-36. Earlier this season, Circleville (the Mid-State League Buckeye Division champions) defeated Hillsboro, 50-48 on Jan. 3 at HHS. 

HHS head coach Heather Storer spoke about the Lady Indians’ win on Thursday night. 

“The first one's always nice to settle in and win. Tournaments are a totally different environment, so getting everybody to settle in and understand what we need to do and execute is really important this time of year. I think we did a pretty nice job,” Storer said.

Though Hillsboro trailed after Warren (11-12) made the first basket of the game, the Lady Indians rebounded with a 3-pointer from junior Tylee Davis, then a rebound and basket from sophomore Annia Young for a 5-2 lead with 5:18 left in the first frame. 

Davis led Hillsboro with 18 points for the game, finishing 8-of-11 from the free-throw line, plus she added two two-point baskets and two 3-pointers. Davis this season is averaging a double-double, as before the game her averages were 18.9 points per game and 11.9 rebounds per game. 

Young finished the game with 11 points, totaling three two-point baskets and she was 3-of-6 with her free-throw attempts. This season, Young’s averages are 7.1 ppg and 7.1 rpg. 

After the five points from Davis and Young, Warren knocked down a jumper, but senior Kobie Miles answered for the Lady Indians with a free throw, giving HHS a two-point lead. Miles — who is averaging 10.7 ppg this season — ended the game with 10 points with a two-pointer, a 3-pointer, and she was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

Warren’s DeLaney Gates — who averages 8.1 ppg —  tied the score at 6-6 with an off-balanced basket in the paint, but after that basket at the 3:38 mark, Hillsboro wrapped up the first quarter with a layup and 3-pointer from Davis, and sophomore Ella Jordan ended the quarter scoring for both teams with two free throws at the 2:10 mark for a 13-6 Lady Indians advantage. 

Jordan totaled 15 points in the win for Hillsboro, as she was not only 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, but she made four two-point baskets. Jordan surpassed her season average in scoring, as entering the game it was 10.0 ppg. 

Hillsboro in the second frame led by as many as 14 points, and the lowest their lead went to was six points as Warren scored the first points of the quarter with a free throw made by Juliana Huffman. 

Miles came back with two free throws, and then she made a 3-pointer with 5:23 on the clock for an 11-point Hillsboro lead at 18-7. Warren’s Jaelynn Nichols followed with a 3-pointer for the Lady Warriors, but HHS responded with a layup by Jordan (with the assist by Piper Wilkin) and a free throw made by Davis for another 11-point lead. 

After Warren cut the HHS lead to nine points it wasn’t long before the Lady Indians answered with a three-point play by Davis and a free throw from Young for a 13-point lead over Warren with 2:40 left in the first half. 

Eventually HHS ended the second quarter with a 29-17 lead, as Davis made two more free throws in the quarter, and Taylor-Ann Scruggs scored a basket following a rebound. 

With HHS outscoring Warren 16-11 in the second, the Lady Indians continued to win the frame, as they had a 14-8 third quarter for a 43-25 lead. 

Warren scored all eight of their third quarter points at the beginning of the frame for an 8-0 run, but Hillsboro punched back with a 12-0 run from the 4:48 mark to the end of the frame, beginning with a layup by Young to increase Hillsboro’s lead to six points at 31-25.

“Basketball’s a game of runs, and this team came here ready to play. We’re the four seed, they're the five. They're not going to come here, not ready to play. We played them last year, so we both had an idea what each other likes to do, certain things coaches do, game plans,” Storer said. “Programs don't just change after one year, so everybody's doing the same thing that they were doing last year, just executing better at different things and throwing different cards at each other. 

“We kind of knew what they were going to do to us, and we prepped for that for the last few days, and I think we held composure in the second half, when they went on their runs, and we were able to keep battling through it, doing what we needed to do.”

Next came two free throws by Davis, followed by a fast-break basket by Miles with the assist from Davis. Jordan then made four straight free throws on a combined two trips to the free-throw line. 

“I don't think we did a great job from the free-throw line tonight, but Ella has worked really hard from the free-throw line, so it's nice to compliment her in that regard,” Storer said. “If you look at her free-throw percentage from December and compare it to now, you would understand what I'm talking about, that the kids really turned that around. It’s nice to acknowledge that she did well from the line tonight.”

Then it was a put-back basket by Young with 12 seconds remaining in the third, plus a 2-of-2 visit to the free-throw line also by Young, that pushed Hillsboro’s lead to 18 points after three quarters at 43-25. 

HHS scored 13 points in the final frame, and Warren had 19 points, but Hillsboro’s lead was too large for Warren to surpass on the scoreboard. HHS led by 20 points three times in the fourth frame (7:18, 6:02, 5:18) and eventually won the game by 12 points. 

Points in the fourth quarter for Hillsboro were scored by Jordan, Miles, Young and Davis. Jordan in the fourth quarter scored seven points and she also drew a charge with 33.3 left in regulation. 

For the game, the Lady Indians totaled 12 two-pointers, three 3-pointers and they were 21-of-31 from the free-throw line. 

Warren was led by DeLaney Gates with 11 points off two 3-pointers, two two-point baskets and one free throw. Danica Gates followed with 10 points, as she made four two-point buckets and she was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. 

Huffman finished with seven points for WHS, the remainder of their final scoring included: Nichols (5), Josie Venham (5) and Jayda Murray (6).

Storer continued to speak highly of her team as they get set for the district semifinals. 

“We only have 10 kids on the whole roster, and those five that don't see a ton of time, you have to think they're prepping us all the whole time in practice against our top five,” Storer said. “They're constantly getting pushed, and they're getting better, and they have gotten better. That's why they can come in when we need them to and give us some breaks, or give us some trouble or help if we’re in foul trouble. It allows them to come in and help make an impact.”

BOX SCORE 
WHS    06 11 08 19 — 44
HHS    13 16 14 13 — 56

HILLSBORO (56) — E.Jordan 4 (0) 7-8 15, K.Miles 2 (1) 3-4 10, T.Davis 2 (2) 8-11 18, Pa.Wilkin 0 (0) 0-2 0, T.Scruggs 1 (0) 0-0 2, A.Young 4 (0) 3-6 11. TOTALS: 13 (3) 21-31 56. 

WARREN (44) — J.Nichols 1 (1) 0-0 5, J. Venham 2 (0) 1-3 5, De.Gates 2 (2) 1-2 11, J.Murray 3 (0) 0-0 6, J.Huffman 2 (0) 3-7 7, Da.Gates 4 (0) 2-2 10. TOTALS: 14 (3) 7-15 44.